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Morning Buzz | Cuomo Ponders Big Cuts in Work Force

By Emily S. Rueb January 20, 2011 9:09 amJanuary 20, 2011 9:09 am

It may be sunny now, but snow is on the way again overnight; high temperatures Thursday will be in the 30s.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is considering reducing the state’s work force by up to 15,000 workers in his budget, the largest cut to the government payroll in recent years, two people briefed on the plan said Wednesday night.

The prospective cuts are likely to accompany large reductions in Medicaid and state education spending, those people said, as Mr. Cuomo and his administration seek to close a projected budget gap of more than $9 billion.

But the cuts would represent a substantial downsizing of the state’s work force, including clerical workers, state troopers and park rangers. And that belt-tightening would almost certainly be accompanied by noticeable reductions in government services, though it is hard to predict where and how much until Mr. Cuomo releases his proposed budget in early February. [NYT]

Crime & Public Safety

The New York City Central Labor Council has fallen into disarray, and its leader, Jack Ahern, has been chided for doubling his salary. [NYT]

Officials said Megan Waterman of Scarborough, Me., was one of the four women whose remains were discovered last month in Suffolk County. [NYT]

Housing & Economy

The city is now considering doubling the capacity of a shelter, Pamoja House in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, to 400 men. [NYT]

A Wonder Bread plant in Queens will bake its last loaves on Thursday, ending a 130-year run in Jamaica, while hundreds of employees scramble for jobs or settle for lesser-paying positions. [Daily News]

The New York Fire Department hopes to recover some of the $50 million lost on ambulance fees by selling its debt to a collection company. [Daily News]

Schools

Just weeks before the former schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, criticized teacher pensions as “hollowing out public education,” Mr. Klein filed for his own. Mr. Klein, who could receive as much as $4.5 million this year in his new News Corporation job, will collect $34,000 annually for his eight years as chancellor. [Daily News]

When report card grades were released in the fall for the city’s 455 high schools, the highest score went to a small school in a down-and-out section of the Bronx called Theater Arts Production Company School. But on Wednesday, the city said it had opened an investigation into how grades were awarded at the school. [NYT] (See also The New York Post.)

The controversial Success Charter Network, founded by Eva S. Moskowitz, will open its first Brooklyn school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, next year. Local parents are thrilled — except about the new elementary charter’s location, which they say is in a dangerous public school on Tompkins Avenue. [Daily News]

…needs to be done, NY government had grown too big based on ridiculous tax rates and inflated wall street and housing performance. Somehow the state ran years ago with just as large population and half as many workers so its possible. The next step is reductions in benefits – again needs to be done, we spend too much per employee (with the exception of maybe NJ and CA who are also at our level) Localities and families cant afford the burden and there are not enough “rich” too keep the game going.

I don’t understand the antagonism for gov’t workers in this country. Public employees work for less money than their private counterparts, expecting benefits and job security in lieu of cash compensation. Perhaps, rather than laying people off, people who pay taxes the same as everyone else, those who benefit most from state services, the wealthy, should pay a fair share. Middle and lower class people are hurting in this economy as the prices of everything go up, there is talk of tax increases, and jobs are cut.

This city taxes its citizens more than they can afford at the same time the state and city employees benefit from employee benefits , better job security and payroll at par if not more than private jobs. The public service should be leaner and more accountable and it should begin with visionary leadership at the top.

“Just weeks before the former schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, criticized teacher pensions as ‘hollowing out public education,’ Mr. Klein filed for his own. Mr. Klein, who could receive as much as $4.5 million this year in his new News Corporation job, will collect $34,000 annually for his eight years as chancellor. [Daily News]”

That says it all about the dedication and hypocrisy of the political class. Wonder how much Ms. Black will receive in tips after she continues the gutting of the working class.

Michael
How exactly do you base “payroll on par” ? I worked for state gov’t. for thirty years and we were never ” on par” with our consultant’s. That kind of easy big lie is at the center of the problem.

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